Page 8 of Light on Love

Floyd smiles warmly at her, “I could use a hand around here with the horses some days. If you’re interested?”

“I definitely am!” she responds eagerly. In fact, she couldn’t think of a better task.

He motions to a tack room behind her, across the aisle. “There’s a list of daily duties and all the things you’ll need to help with them in there, including work boots. Although all the options may all be a bit big for you.”

“I’ll manage,” she says with a smile, turning and heading into the room.

They work mostly in silence, taking a break about halfway through. Floyd leads Laurel to a picnic table around the back of the barn that she hadn’t noticed before. She pauses to take in the sight of wide-open fields around her and mountains rising above.This view would never get old, she muses. As Laurel soaks up her surroundings, Floyd pulls out a cooler of food, sliding it over to her.

“Any of your wife’s cinnamon rolls?” Laurel asks eagerly, peering inside.

Floyd snorts, “Brett actually shares those? Well, I’m surprised. My wife, Mary, took ill a few years back. It’s why Brett came back to run the ranch, so I could care for her. Even after the chemo ended, she was still worn out for some time. The day she started feeling better, she whipped up a batch of her famous cinnamon rolls and demanded they were just for him. A thank you for coming home for her. She’s been doing it every week since, just making a small batch for him.”

Laurel’s heart tightens as she listens to the thoughtfulness between an ailing woman and the supposed ruthless, arrogant SEAL.

“Is she doing okay now? And how was he able to come back like that? The military doesn’t just let you go.”

“She is. Her energy isn’t where it was, she can spend most of it up making those rolls, but she’s healthy. We live in the cabin at the south entrance to the ranch, Brett doesn’t want you out that far, but Mary has been eager to meet you. Maybe on a good day I can get her down to the main house.”

Laurel nods in agreement as Floyd continues, “as for the military, sometimes timing just has a funny way of working out. When Mary received the diagnosis, he was a month away from his most recent four-year stint being done. He had the choice to re-up or come home.”

—

Laurel drags herself back up the steps of the farmhouse. She had spent the rest of the day helping Floyd at the stables and was feeling more content than she had in a long time, despite how exhausted she was. Laurel had been raised to get higher education and a white-collar job. It was expected of her, and she took a creative license with that expectation by going into military profiling. Her brothers had both gone into finance, like her father and grandfather. The only girl in the family, Laurel capitalized on the flexibility of their expectations for her, on never being pushed into the same field as them. But there was something about getting to work with your hands that had always made sense to her, it being confirmed again today.

Later, as she packs up the portion of dinner she made for Brett that night, Laurel finds her thoughts wandering backto Floyd’s story of him dropping everything to come back for them.That sounds far from arrogant to me, she thinks. Reflecting on the other servicemen she has worked with, Laurel wonders if any of them would have done the same. She thinks of Harrison never leaving Captain Ireland’s side, trying to climb up the ranks, and a huff escapes her.And he called Brett the arrogant one.

5

As her second week on the ranch comes to an end, Laurel is convinced that Brett is avoiding her. She’s spent more time at the stables with Floyd and explores the compound further, and he’s never anywhere she seems to go. In fact, it’s even like he’s left hardly any trace of himself at the house. But she supposes this is an engrained skill for a Navy SEAL, being invisible when they want to be.

“So much for staying close while I’m here,” Laurel says to herself as she walks around to the front porch to take in the scene across the river instead this morning. It’s starting to feel like her protection detail has all but cast her aside. Determined to understand the man she’s living with; Laurel decides to ask Floyd about Brett’s whereabouts today.

Making her way down to the stables, she finds the aged ranch hand waiting for her with a smile, the camaraderie they have found warming her heart. “Can I ask you a question?” she starts as she nears him.

“What’s on your mind?”

“Brett. Is he unhappy with this situation? Is he trying to distance himself from me?”

Floyd chuckles and shakes his head. “On the contrary, he’s taking protecting you very seriously.”

“But I don’t see him. Ever.”

The wrinkles around Floyd’s eyes knit together and he pulls at the end of his mustache, as if deciding if he wants to answer her honestly. Finally, he speaks again.

“Before your arrival, the buddy you two share in Virginia, Ray… he mentioned that you were nervous about coming to live with a strange man. I think Brett is just trying to give you space to settle in.”

Laurel nods, feeling a sense of comfort learning about the kindness Brett is trying to show her. “Well, when you see him, tell Brett that space isn’t necessary. If we are going to be living together for the time being, we should get used to occupying the same house. I’d like to get to know Brett, if that’s okay with him.”

Floyd holds her gaze, a glint in his eye. “I will pass that on ma’am.”

—

It’s late in the evening when Laurel puts her book down and decides she needs a late-night snack. Throwing a sweater over her sleep set, she leaves her bedroom and heads for the kitchen. As she reaches the top of the staircase though, she notices light pouring out of the office below her.

Laurel feels a twinge of guilt at the idea of eavesdropping, but the curiosity overtakes her. Slowly, quietly, she makes her way down to the base of the stairs. From here, she can hear that Brett is on a phone call.

“Is there anything you can think of?” he asks the person. There’s a beat of silence in the air. It’s so quiet, Laurel realizes she’s been holding her breath.

---